Vehicles employing liquid cooled internal combustion engines as power sources have radiators through which the liquid is circulated from a hose having a circular water passage orifice. In order to maintain a suitable engine operating temperature, an engine thermostat having a preset temperature installed in the orifice to regulate the temperature by limiting the liquid flow through the cooling system. Typically, the thermostat incorporates a heat sensitive bimetal coil which reacts to the liquid coolant temperature by opening or closing the thermostat to allow or prevent circulation of liquid in order to establish and maintain the preset temperature.
Engines used in racing cars cannot use thermostats. Thermostats are not reliable because they can stick in a closed or open position creating either an overheating condition which can damage the engine or diminish engine performance. Instead, the thermostat is replaced by a cooling device known as a restrictor plate which is used in place of the bimetallic element. This device is a circular disk with a pre sized central opening. The size of the opening determines the pre set temperature. Changing the diameter of the central opening of the disk changes the operating temperature.
However, while disk changes can be made easily when the engine is cold and at rest, it is hazardous, difficult and time consuming to replace one disk with another while the engine is hot and such replacement cannot take place during a race. A skilled driver of a racing car may wish to change the operating temperature during a race because of ambient temperature, track and race condition changes during a race.
The present invention is directed toward a new type of temperature regulator which under manual operation of a racing car driver enables the operating temperature of an engine to be changed as desired during a race.
It is the primary object of this invention to provide a new type of temperature regulator which can be used to rapidly change the operating temperature of a liquid cooled internal combustion engine while the engine is hot.
Another object of this invention is to provide toward a new type of temperature regulator which under manual operation of a racing car driver enables the operating temperature of an engine to be changed as desired during a race.
Yet another object is to provide a new type of temperature regulator of the character indicate which is inexpensive, durable, and easy to install and maintain.
The invention employs a liquid cooled internal combustion engine having a radiator through which liquid is circulated from a hose having a circular liquid passage orifice of a specified diameter. The temperature of an engine after being fully warmed up has a minimum value when the orifice is unobstructed and is fully open, the engine temperature increasing as the opening in the orifice is restricted and decreased. In accordance with the principles of the invention, an internal rotating blade is placed in slidable engagement with the orifice. The rotating blade can assume any position with respect to the orifice between a minimum position at which the rotating blade produces a minimum restriction of the orifice and a maximum position at which the rotating blade produces a maximum restriction of the orifice. A manually operated means is connected to the rotating blade to place the rotating blade in any desired position between minimum and maximum positions.
This means includes a adjusting screw secured to the rotating blade which when turned actuates the rotating blade over the orifice. The position of the rotating blade is determined by suitable rotation of the adjusting screw. One end of a cable is affixed to the adjusting screw the other end of the cable can be disposed on the dash board of a racing car to enable the driver to rotate the adjusting screw through the cable and set the temperature as desired.
Typically, the orifice has a diameter of about one inch and the minimum and maximum temperatures can be 140 degrees and 260 degrees respectively.